Collecting genuine Opium Weights

View our collection of Opium Weights in our catalog

Opium Weights are actually ancient Burmese weights to scale the household substances and also invaluable substances. But the purpose was changed with the introduction of standardized flat weights by British. It was learned that these weights were once used to weigh opium but most of the Burmese disagree. They believe that some of the small weights were may be used to weigh opium but others were not used to serve this purpose. They believe that the term Opium weights were coined after the traveler found beautifully designed weight used to weighs opium. In order to weigh the materials, the scale is hung with the help of a beam with two baskets or trays. In one of the basket, desired weight is placed while another basket is filled with the materials. Till the scale is balanced, one will go on filling the material. This way the seller sales the quantity.

Due to the beautiful designs, these weights have attracted the attention of travelers to Burma. Hence many of the travelers have collected these weights for their personal collection. These result in high demand of the opium weights. The people then tend to make the replica and also used other materials, brass.

Types of Opium weights

The Opium weights can be categorized into two distinct types- with and without animal design. The animal design can also be categorized into two distinct types- bird and quadrupeds. Here quadrupeds mean the animals which have four legs. They may be real or mythical.

About the appearance of the opium weights, it may be contrasted into two parts. The above part for the animals or other design. This is supported by a lower part- base. The base is either circular, rectangular, hexagonal, or octagonal. It is recorded that most of the bases taper upwards to form a small platform on which the animal stands, many are incised with horizontal lines and short, hatch stroke designs. In addition to this decoration, many weights have marks stamped on the side or underneath the base.

It is recorded that among the varieties of opium weights found, the most common are Hintha, Karaweik or Toe.

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Collecting Genuine Opium Weights

In the Early days, people visit the curator's showroom to observe the opium weights. After careful observation, they will decide which one to buy. But the scenario has been changed in the recent time. The reason behind this is due to the growth of the e-commerce concepts which has revolutionized buying and selling behavior. People now can just sit back and shop with the help of Laptop/ Desktop and even mobile phones, which are connected to the Internet, through e-commerce sites.

While buying the opium weights in person, the people should observe the weights carefully. If they are buying the big opium weights then they should look for the fineness in the images. If they are buying smaller one, then it is foolish for the people to look for the fineness. The genuine one has the mark at the base. Another point while buying genuine opium weight is the material used in the weights. Normally bronze was used to cast the ancient weights. The bronze weights will normally look reddish in color.

When the people are buying the weights an e-commerce site. They can refer to the testimonials and online reviews of the previous buyers. These reviews and testimonials help us to trust the owner behind that e-commerce site. Another thing, we can do is to know social media presence of that site because this also helps us to know how the site is communicating with other people and vice-versa. Last one, important of all is to look at the high quality photograph of the weights from all perspective. This helps to observe the fineness at the dedicated areas.